BOOK REVIEW
“ And Then There Were Nun ’ s ” by Jane Christmas
This is a highly entertaining book which I bought in Whitby when I had gone over there for a day while on holiday in York last September .
The author is a Canadian aged about 50 , twice divorced and the mother of adult children . She was having a long-distance relationship with a man in England . At the beginning of the book he had just proposed to her and had been accepted despite the fact that , at the time , she was wondering whether to become a nun .
You might think that having accepted a proposal of marriage thoughts of a convent would have been given up but no ! Jane Christmas then spent a year visiting various monasteries , both Anglican ( she is an Anglican ) and Roman Catholic , first in Canada and then in England , while trying to decide what God wanted her to do . Her conversations with God are most interesting . During this time , she continued to keep in touch with her fiancé who must have been the most patient man in the world .
The book describes in detail the daily life of the nuns of the convents that Jane Christmas visited , and this does give you a real sense of what that life might be like . As well as saying what she thought of the nuns she also quite honestly indicates what some of them made of her . Most were sympathetic , if surprised at her background . One , in an abbey on the Isle of Wight ( R . C .) was frankly incredulous and evidently thought she was insane , an attitude I sympathised with at times .
Three chapters of the book give details of her stay with the sisters of the Order of the Holy Paraclete , an Anglican order based in a house just outside Whitby . This was of particular interest to me as I had seen nuns from there often over the years when on holiday , first with my parents in the 1950 ’ s and ‘ 60 ’ s and then with Robert and James in the ‘ 80 ’ s and ‘ 90 ’ s . As a child I was fascinated by the ladies in the black habits sometimes seen on the beach .
Nowadays they wear rather less elaborate grey habits and do not wear veils . There is a Glasgow connexion here too .
Some of you may know , or know of , Karen Brewin who was the deaconess at St Aidan ’ s and who joined the Order of the Holy Paraclete some years ago . I had in fact met her quite by accident , the day before I bought the book , at a service in York Minster where she is currently based . I just wish that I had read the book before I met her so that I could have asked her whether she knew Jane Christmas . She would certainly have been a member of the Order at the time of her visit .
I won ’ t tell you what Jane Christmas decided to do in the end . You will have to read the book ! If you are interested I will be happy to lend it .
Paula R Fleetwood
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